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Jed first noticed the love advice man towards the end of January, sitting at the tables in front of the coffee shop across the street from the Mystic Grill. He had a chalkboard sign that read in cutesy font, Love Advice, $10 per customer ; it had a bunch of hearts and cupids drawn on it, too. There were hearts stitched on the ends of the sleeves of his shirt and on the pocket of his jeans, and he was wearing a charm bracelet with little arrow shaped charms where the head of the arrow was a heart with a sharpened end. For someone like Jed, who wasn't the biggest fan of Valentine's Day, it was a lot.Ben and Jed had decided to spend the winter at the Salvatore School. It was harder to find places to take their RV after peak camping season ended, and after over two years mostly on the road, staying put for a while was nice. But the real reason that they were staying at the school, although Ben wasn't aware of it, was that Jed wanted to save up more money for Valentine's Day. He'd been a little reluctant to celebrate the first couple years - he was still recovering from the whole Pothos incident - but this year, he wanted to go big, because Ben loved it. Ben loved most holidays and celebrations, actually, but there was something about Valentine's Day in particular that seemed to appeal to him. And in order to make this year's special, Finch had gotten Jed a part time job waiting at the Grill so he could save up extra money on top of the research work he did for Professor Vardemus. So far it had been a pretty good gig - he wasn't the best at remembering orders but he'd gotten better at writing them down faster, and he got great tips.He was getting off his shift when he spotted the man and his cutesy sign; and he asked Finch, who was passing him on his way out as she went in to start her own shift, "Is that guy seriously selling love advice on the street?"“Yeah. I actually went to him yesterday.”Jed shot her an incredulous look. “You did? Really?”She shrugged, the tops of her cheeks coloring. “You know how I've been thinking about starting things up with Maya again?""Wait, you actually did it?" Jed asked eagerly, completely distracted from the mysterious man. "How'd it go? What did she say?""It went fine," Finch said, smiling bashfully. "It kinda went amazing, actually. We're gonna meet up this weekend.""Finch, that's awesome!" he said, holding his hand out for a high five, which she gave him - a little hard for his current mortal strength, but he managed not to wince. Then he noticed someone walking up to the mysterious man and taking the seat across from him. "And that guy helped you with that? How?""I dunno. We talked about some stuff - why me and Maya didn't work out, my issues with pushing people away. At the end of it, I just felt ... calmer. Not as afraid of being vulnerable with her, I guess. It all just seemed easier, somehow.""Good for you," he said, meaning it even as he felt a growing sense of unease. "Have a good shift.""Say hi to Ben for me. We're still on for movie night on Wednesday, right?""Absolutely."As Finch walked into the Grill, Jed turned his eyes back on the mysterious love advice man. He was wearing a long shirt but no jacket in near freezing temperatures, but after a couple years on the road, Jed had seen weirder things; at least he wasn’t wearing shorts. Maybe it was the sign - who sat around waiting for people to come up asking for love advice these days? He’d find a lot more business setting up an online service or something. Besides, he didn’t seem to be a therapist or anything, there weren't any credentials written on the chalkboard. What the hell was he doing giving out love advice?But it wasn’t really any of that. There was just a deep down gut feeling that Jed couldn’t explain that said this guy was not to be trusted."Hello."Jed grinned as frankly enormous arms snaked around his middle and Ben's chin hooked over his shoulder. "Hey.""Who are you looking at?""Not sure. New guy in town. Finch said he helped her with something.""That's good right?""Maybe." Jed turned his head to give Ben a quick kiss. "It's nothing. We can head out."Ben looked dubious, but he let go of Jed's stomach to take his hand instead; and as they headed down the street, Jed tried to put all thoughts of the mysterious man out of his head.*Although he saw the man a lot over the next week and half or so, Jed didn't dwell on the mystery of him much. Finch seemed fine, better than fine in fact, and other than having a bad business model, he couldn't actually find anything wrong with the love advice man. So he did his best to let it go.The Thursday before Valentine's Day changed that.First, on his way home from the Grill, he noticed MG in line to talk to the mysterious man - because he now had enough customers to have an actual line. He considered going over to ask MG what he was doing there, but in the end, he decided against it. MG had a pretty bad romantic track record and a least some of that was Jed's fault. He was probably the last person MG wanted sticking his nose into MG's romantic problems, whatever they were.Second, while he and Ben were reading together in the library a few hours later, he heard what sounded like MG bellowing out in the hallways:“Ethan! Ethan!”Jed looked up from the book he was reading and nudged Ben. “You hear that?”“Don’t know I could miss it,” Ben said, eyes trained on his own book.“Ethan!”Jed looked around the room and saw Kaleb in the opposite corner, looking as concerned as he felt. He pointed his head at the door and Jed nodded in agreement, before standing and pulling at Ben’s arm. “Come on, we need to check it out.”Ben sighed, but allowed himself to be pulled. The two of them and Kaleb followed MG’s voice to the main staircase, getting there just in time to see Ethan come running down the stairs to meet him, looking frazzled and worried. “MG, what’s going on? What’s wrong?”“Nothing,” MG said with a big smile on his face. “I just had this … I don’t know, this burst of confidence and I just needed to talk to you as soon as possible, but I couldn’t find you …” He finally seemed to become aware of the throng of people he’d attracted with all his yelling, his smile dimming as he looked around. “Woah, that’s a lot people.”Kaleb and Jed exchanged another look before Kaleb clapped his hands and shouted, “Alright, everybody, move it along! You don’t have to go home but you need to get the hell outta here!”“You heard him, move, move, move,” Jed said, stalking towards some of the wolves who were lingering, glaring until they rolled their eyes and took off.“Okay, man, do your thing,” Kaleb said before he, Jed, and Ben followed the rest of the students out.Ben stopped, confused, when Kaleb and Jed ducked behind the doorway just out sight. “I thought we were leaving.”“Hey, MG’s my boy, I need to be here in case it goes bad,” Kaleb hissed, peering out around the corner.“I ruined MG’s first relationship and his second one with Lizzie bombed, I want to make sure this one works out,” Jed whispered."If that's what you need to tell yourselves to justify spying," said Ben, but he dutifully squished himself behind the archway with them."Ethan," Jed heard MG said, his voice warm and only wavering slightly. "I like you. Like, romantically like you.""Damn, he did actually did it," Kaleb breathed.“I’ve been wanting to tell you for weeks - months, actually,” MG continued, “but I keep worrying that you won’t like me back and it’ll make things weird, or it falls apart like all my other relationships. But I know our friendship’s strong enough to handle any weirdness. Right?”“It definitely is,” Ethan agreed; Jed could just barely see his face from where he was hiding, and he was grinning ear-to-ear.“So I wanted to ask … do you want to go out with me?”“Yes, definitely, I ... um, I’d really, really like that,” Ethan said.“Okay, great,” MG replied.And then there was a few long moments of awkward silence. Jed and Kaleb exchanged worried glances.Then there was the sound of feet on stairs, a gasp, and then more silence.Not able to wait anymore, Jed crept out from behind the archway, Kaleb right behind him. Then they started to whoop and clap together.“Hell yeah, MG!”“Knew you had it in you, bro!’’MG broke away from kissing Ethan long enough to glare at the two of them. “Guys, seriously?”Then he grabbed Ethan tight and vamp sped him away."Glad that worked out for him," Jed said, letting out a heavy breath. "I can't watch that kid's heart get crushed again.“You think you’re relieved? You aren’t the one who had to hear him talk about how much he liked Ethan for most of last year - how cute he was, how sweet he was, how he couldn’t lose him as a friend,” Kaleb said, rolling his eyes. “I was starting to think he would never get up the nerve. But he stepped up in a big way.”“Yeah, he did,” Jed said slowly. “Huh.”Ben frowned at him. “Is something wrong?”“I dunno. I guess not.”But it didn't feel like nothing. It kinda felt like Finch and MG might be under a spell.*In the early hours of the morning on the Monday before Valentine’s Day, Jed ran into Lizzie in the hallway on the way back to his room. Her hair was messy and her sweater was inside out, and as soon as she saw him, she practically jumped out of her skin. “God, Jed, you scared the hell out of me! What are you doing up?”“I was down in the kitchen getting a snack,” he said, holding up the plate to show off his sandwich.“At one AM?”He shrugged. “Sometimes I get hungry after me and Ben … uh, I mean, after I wake up in the middle of the night for no reason.”Lizzie's face scrunched up. “Ew. I so did not know that.”“What are you doing up?”“Nothing,” Lizzie said, her eyes widening innocently. “I couldn’t sleep, decided to walk around the school until I got tired.”“O-kay,” Jed said slowly; he was pretty sure she was lying, but he had no idea why. Then he noticed something. “Oh, hey, you’ve got something on your neck.”Lizzie’s eyes got even wider somehow and she slapped her hand over the purple thing on her neck. “Wow, all that walking around really worked, so sleepy.” She fake yawned. “K, I'll be going now, g’night!”Then she vamp sped over to her room, smacked into the door, cursed under her breath, then yanked the door open and disappeared inside.Jed stood there in the middle of the hallway, deeply confused. Before he could move, he heard, “Oh, Jed, didn't expect to see you out here this late.”He turned to see Hope coming from the same direction Lizzie just had. She had leaves in her hair and her knees had dirt on them. “Let me guess,” he said, "couldn’t sleep?”“Mmm-hmm. I went patrolling to burn off some energy. You?”He held up his sandwich again. “Snack.”“Cool. So … goodnight.”“Goodnight,” he said as Hope quick walked past him and past her own room, going into Lizzie’s instead.Ben raised his eyebrows as Jed finally walked back into their room. “I was about to go out looking for you.”“Sorry, but something weird just happened,” Jed said as he slid into bed, Ben throwing an arm around his shoulders to pull him close. “I think I just ran into Hope and Lizzie coming back from hooking up. And then Hope went into Lizzie’s room instead of her room.”“Is that not a good thing? I thought you wanted them to date. You said it was frustrating watching them not realize each other’s feelings.”“No, no, it’s definitely a good thing … if it was their idea.”Ben’s brow creased. “How would it not be their idea?”“Not sure. There’s just this guy that’s been working across the street from the Grill giving love advice. I know MG and Finch went to see him, and I saw Lizzie hanging around the coffee shop this afternoon. And then all three of them are suddenly confessing feelings they’ve been holding onto for, like, ever?”“Maybe it’s good advice.”“Maybe.” Jed took a bite of sandwich and Ben huffed out a laugh. “Wha’?” Jed asked around a mouthful of roast beef, bread, and cheese.“You’re a strange man, Jedidiah,” Ben said, eyes sparkling as he brushed crumbs off the top of Jed’s lip.Jed swallowed and raised his eyebrows. “So you don’t want your half?”“I supposed I do need energy for later,” Ben said, pressing an open-mouthed kiss to Jed’s neck before picking up his half of the sandwich and taking a big bite.“That’s what I thought,” Jed said with a chuckle, and he didn’t think much about the mysterious man for the rest of the night, the sandwich and then Ben keeping him plenty busy.*The next day, there was an even bigger line at the love advice man’s table and he recognized at least five of the two dozen or so people as students from the school. He decided it was time to get to the bottom of this.“Hey, Cleo, wait up,” he said jogging down the hallway to catch up with her.“Jed, hello,” Cleo said, a few files slipping from the big pile of them in her arms as she turned to look at him. Jed managed to grab them, and then took some more so Cleo could carry a more reasonable amount. She smiled up at him gratefully. “Thank you.”“No problem,” he said. “Taking these to your office?”“Yes. Caroline has put me in charge of finding supernatural children in the foster system and it is proving quite a challenge."“Yeah, that sounds like a lot. It’s important though, trust me,” Jed said as they walked into her office and he dumped his armful of files on her desk.“I know. That’s why I’m working so hard to do it right.” She tilted her head at him. “Did you need my help?”“I mean, I did want to ask you for something, but I could find someone else, probably -““Please don’t. I could use the break from all of this, and I’ve had much on my mind as well.”Jed hesitated for few seconds, his tongue wetting his lips as he considered if he really wanted to add to her plate; but it didn’t take long for him to cave. “Okay. So there’s this guy giving out love advice at the coffee shop across the street from the Grill, and Finch, MG and Lizzie went to see him before spilling their guts to people they have feelings for. Well, okay, I’m not a hundred percent sure that Lizzie saw him or what’s going on with Lizzie and Hope, but … I don’t know. I just have a feeling I can’t shake about him.”“And what do you need from me?”“Your fury powers can help you see if someone is putting a spell on someone else, right? So can you go down there, make sure he’s not putting a whammy on anyone?”“I can go this afternoon.”“Really?” he asked, relieved.Cleo smiled reassuringly at him. “Of course. I trust your instincts, Jed. If you think that it is worth checking out, then I will check it out.”“Thanks, Cleo,” Jed said, feeling like a weight had been lifted. “I so owe you one.”“I’m happy to do it.” She looked at her pile of files and sighed. “Although if you would like to take me to lunch so that I may take a break from this -““Done.”*Jed hovered by the school’s front door all afternoon waiting for Cleo to come back. As soon as she walked through the door, he was on her. “Well? What did you see?”“There was no spell,” Cleo said as she shrugged off her coat. “No magic that I could see.”“Really?” Jed asked, deflating. “You’re sure?”“My Sight can’t see every kind of magic, so I suppose I cannot be completely sure, but I am certain no spell was involved.”“Alright. Well, thanks for going anyway, sorry I wasted your time.”“You did not waste my time. In fact, you gave me a gift.”“I did?”“I spoke to Eric myself - that is his name, Eric - and he gave me some excellent advice about a vision I had of Kaleb and I, of what would happen to our relationship in the future. I think that I know what I need to do now, and it is all thanks to you, Jed.” She popped up on her toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek before heading towards her office, practically skipping as she went, the complete opposite of the world weary Cleo of a few hours ago.“You’re welcome, I guess,” Jed said, his stomach twisting up in knots. This was probably a good thing. God, he hoped this was a good thing.*By the day before Valentine’s Day, love was so thick in the air that Jed could practically taste it. He passed MG and Ethan holding hands in the hallways and swinging them so hard they were a hazard to everyone around them; he ran into Cleo and Kaleb curled up in the library, reading books on rippers and education theory; and Lizzie and Hope mostly behaved the same, but their teasing and even fighting sounded a lot flirtier these days, plus he saw them making out behind a tree when he was walking down the Old Mill the night before. Even Wade had met someone, a witch named James who lived in England and frequented the same D&D chatrooms he did, and he spent a lot of his time now texting on his phone and giggling. So did Finch, although she was more subtle about it, trying to bite back a sweet smile when she got text notifications.“I’m confused. How is any of this bad?” Ben had asked in bed that night.“You know better than anyone that magic has a price.”“Why are you so convinced that it’s magic, even after Cleo said that it wasn’t?” Ben asked, his hand smoothing its way up and down Jed’s back.“I can just feel it, okay? Plus, everybody figuring their crap out at the same time? What’re the odds of that?”“The same that I would spend five thousand years in various levels of isolation, only to meet the love of my life a week after being freed from Malivore. Or that you’d run off with a man you just met a few weeks ago and that we would still be together almost three years later.”Jed tried to glare so as to not give away the way he was melting inside. “Stop being cute. And why are you so sure it isn’t something supernatural, anyway? You’re s’posed to be the pessimist in this relationship.”“Because my father is dead and my curse is gone and I have you,” Ben said simply. “And I suppose I’d like to believe that Finch and the rest of your friends have found happiness, too. After several millennia of believing the worst in people and that the least favorable outcome was the most likely to come true, I prefer my new way of seeing the world. That good things can happen, even to me.”“I only want good things to happen to you,” Jed whispered past the lump in his throat.“I know. And I only want good things to happen to you.” Then Ben smirked. “In fact, there’s one good thing I could make happen for you right now.”“Wow, you ruined the moment,” Jed groaned, but he was smiling when Ben kissed him.And he could admit that it was a very, very good thing when Ben pulled Jed on top of him, grinding up into him; and then he didn’t think about much at all.*Valentine's Day dawned cold and cloudy, and Jed struggled through his shift since he was assigned to the outdoor tables that morning. But a few very happy, and even a few very lonely, patrons tipped him extremely well, so he was in a good mood as he walked out of the Grill. He had a few errands to run - flowers and chocolates to pick up, extra condoms and lube to buy - and his mind was anywhere but on Eric, the love advice man.But out of the corner of his eye, he saw Eric give his latest customer a handshake. A weirdly deliberate handshake. It looked to Jed like Eric had made sure he was holding a certain charm on his charm bracelet in his hand before he took his customer's hand.Jed looked down the road to the florists and then checked the time on his phone. He had almost half an hour until his scheduled pick up time. They could wait a little longer.He sat down on the bench and watched. Two more customers met with Eric. Both times, it ended with a handshake, with Eric making sure to have a charm in his hand, and a different one each time as far as Jed could tell.When the third customer was about to take their seat, Jed launched himself up off the bench and stalked over. "Everybody leave, I'm closing this thing down!" he bellowed at the line. "Salvatore students, get back to the school now!"The students took off immediately, as did a few other people, probably not wanting to get involved in whatever was going on. Two or three others lingered, though, and the customer in the seat stayed where they were. "I already paid, buddy.""Here's your money back," Eric said, handing over a couple bills, and Jed had to give it him, he had a very soothing voice. "I'm sorry about this, everyone, please come back later.""Definitely don't do that," Jed cautioned as they left, taking the seat across from Eric as soon as the last customer got out of it. "I know what you're doing."Eric smiled in a friendly sort of way. "I know you do."Jed frowned. "You do?""Yes. I put it on my sign.""No, not that part, the charms. I've been watching my friends be weird for weeks, and it always happens after they talk to you, I knew you were putting a love spell on them but I couldn't figure out how you were doing it, but it's that bracelet, isn't it? The charms are the spell. Or spells, separate ones - I don't know, whatever, I'm not a witch. But I know magic when I see it."Eric sighed and held up his hands in placation. "Fine, you're right, the charms are magic -""Ha, I knew it!""- but I'm not putting a love spell on anyone, and I'm definitely not hurting them."Jed crossed his arms. "Sure. What are you doing then?""Each of these charms represent something that someone needs to help them get out of their own way when it comes to love," Eric explained, holding his hand up. "Confidence, vulnerability, honesty, serenity, understanding - that sort of thing. It's very mild and it only lasts for a couple hours, a day at most. Some people just need a little push and that's what I give them. And I tell them what I'm doing - giving them confidence, helping them be vulnerable, and so on and so forth. There's no tricks here, and I make sure everyone consents before I use the charms.""But they don't know magic is involved, and magic always has a price," Jed said stubbornly. "So what's yours?""Ten dollars," Eric said, pointing at the sign. "And it takes some energy out of me. That's why I like doing this at coffee shops.""So, what, I'm supposed to believe you're doing this out of the kindness of your heart?""And ten dollars. But honestly, helping people is kind of my job. Or my calling, anyway. Especially today."'Why especially today? Wait ..." Jed's mind finally starting putting the pieces together. The focus on love and Valentines Day, the different charms that were shaped like arrows, the name, but especially the reason he'd really been suspicious this whole time - the face that looked a lot like another face he couldn't help but remember every year around this time.“You’re Eros! You're the real Cupid!”“Guilty as charged,” Eros said, smiling his cheerful smile. “No one has recognized me in decades ... Jed," he read off of Jed's waiter name tag that he'd forgotten to take off. "Very well done.”“Yeah, well, I met your brother. There’s a lot of family resemblance.”Eros’s smile dimmed. “You’ve seen one of my brothers?”“Yep. It wasn’t a good time, and I'd like to not repeat it.” Jed pulled out his phone, trying to figure out who to call first.“I don’t doubt it. My brothers aren’t very nice - well, not anymore.”Jed paused mid-typing an emergency text to Ben - cupid bad, send help - curiosity overwhelming him in spite of himself. “What do you mean, ‘not anymore?’”“We were human once,” Eros said, the look in his eyes distant, as if he were in some other place and time. “A witch told us we could have powers we could use to defeat the raiders who kept robbing our village. They had magic, so we needed magic, too. We didn’t realize she meant to make us into something else entirely.”“I didn’t know that. Jen, Ben's sister, told us you were made with his blood, but I thought … I didn’t know you used to be human. It’s a rough transition to make. Both ways.”“Sounds like you’ve had experience.”“I was a werewolf, so yeah, lots of experience.”“You were a werewolf?” Eros asked, his eyebrow raised.“I died, got untriggered, it was a thing.” Jed looked him over warily. "So what are you doing here in Mystic Falls? Eating people's hearts, maybe?""You really have met my brother," Eros said with a wry smile. "No, my magic doesn't work like that. I actually came here to find Pothos. I heard rumors he was in the area a few years ago and that he might have died here. Now I know the first part is true. Is the second?""It is. Sorry," Jed said, although he wasn't sure that he was. Pothos was one of his least favorite monsters, and he was glad he was dead. But he was at least a little sorry that Eros might feel bad about it."It's probably for the best. I've had to kill three of my brothers already. They're violent, as you can probably guess, and they don't like me much after I got all the good mythology. You probably saved me from making another terrible decision."Jed nodded, his eyes darting away from Eros's. "I know all about those.""Then I'm sorry, too.""So that's it then?" Jed asked, desperate to change the subject. "You just wanted to find out about your brother?""That's all I wanted when I came here, that and helping some locals out. But then I saw your boyfriend."Every possible alarm went off in Jed's brain. "You stay the hell away from Ben!"Eros tilted his head. "Ben? I knew him as Prometheus.""His name's changed a couple times. What, did you knew him back then or something?""Not really. My brothers and I, and many others, were made from his blood, so we could be nearly as powerful as him. I felt like I owed him, so I tracked him down and tried to free him." Eros sighed. "But of course I couldn't break the god's chains. I waited there for hours for him to wake up, but he never did. So I looked for answers on how I might help him as I traveled, but I never found any. And I got caught in mortal problems everywhere I went, and by the time I finally went back to try again, he was already gone. I suppose I've been trying to figure out what to say to him. How to apologize for leaving him alone for so long." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card with a phone number and e-mail on it, then slid it across the table. "Can you give him this? I don't plan to stay here much longer, but if he ever wants to talk, he can reach me anytime.""You tried to help him?" Jed asked, his chest suddenly tight."Not as much as I should've.""That's ... thank you." He pulled out his wallet and put the card inside. "I'll give it to him.""I appreciate it, Jed. I'm glad that Prometh - Ben has you. What the two of you have is special.""How do you know? I mean, it is, but you don't even know us.""I've spent almost three thousand years helping people with their love lives," Eros said with a knowing smile. "I know complete and utter adoration when I see it, and I see it in both of you."Jed felt his face heat up and he ducked his head, his foot scuffing against the ground. "Yeah, well ... he's my favorite person.""I can tell. I love stories like yours and Ben's. They're a reminder that no matter what you go through, a happy ending is still possible. Even I forget that sometimes."*"So what do you think?"Ben turned the card around in his fingers. "I think I should've taken your concerns more seriously, Jed. I'm sorry.""Hey, you were right, too. Cleo, Hope, and Lizzie are gonna double check, do some more in depth magic tests on everyone who talked to Eros, but they think it really was just a little push like he said. And they all said they consented to getting a boost of confidence or whatever else, although Eros says he'll be a little more clear about the magic part from now on." He nudged his boyfriend gently. "Do you think you'll call him?""I think so. Or e-mail, perhaps. It might be nice to talk to someone who has been alive nearly as long as I have, especially one I'm not related to.""Then you were right about that, too. Eros coming here was a good thing.""You suddenly seem a lot more optimistic," Ben observed, his eyes searching Jed's face. "Are you sure you didn't go near any of the charms?""Definitely. But it's not every day you get told you've got a super special relationship by Cupid. Like, Cupid actually said that about us. It's kinda surreal.""I suppose, although I don't think we needed Cupid to tell us that.""No, but it's still pretty cool. And I like knowing someone was trying to help you. When I think about everyone who could've at least tried and just ... did nothing. People you spent your whole life helping. I like knowing there was at least one person who tried to do something."Ben smiled sadly. "There was nothing anyone could've done. The most powerful god in the world was angry with me. Even if someone had freed me, he'd have found me and put me right back on the mountain, and destroyed them.""I helped kill that god when I was a human, it wasn't that hard. Okay, we kind needed a full battle plan and a tribrid and fury and heretic and a god weapon, but we figured it out. People give up too easy.""Not you. You never give up on the people you care about." Ben murmured before leaning in for a soft kiss.Jed hummed against Ben's lips, then pulled back. "Okay, we're putting this away until tomorrow," Jed said, gently plucking Eros's card from Ben's hands and putting it aside, "because right now, we're going to have the perfect Valentine's Day.""Are you sure? I know how you feel about Valentine's Day.""I told you, I'm over it. Mostly. Meeting the real Cupid definitely helped. Now I don’t exactly have your present with me - I mean, besides the flowers and chocolate,” Jed said, smiling nervously. “I, um. I’ve been saving up so we can travel overseas somewhere. But you kinda gotta pick where we go before I buy the tickets. I mean I’ve been thinking Georgia, because I thought it might be nice for you to visit your old home, but I wanted to make sure you actually wanted to - “The rest of his pitch was swallowed up in Ben’s kiss, hot and heavy and desperate. Jed clung on to his boyfriend and tried to give as good as he got, but it was overwhelming. When Ben finally pulled away, Jed was panting and his lips were stinging. "What was that for?" he managed to ask between breaths. "Not that I'm complaining.""Because no matter how many amazing things you do for me, you still find new ways to surprise me," Ben said, his own breathing uneven. "You are the best thing that has ever happened to me, Jed Tien. The absolute best."